Fetterman’s Wife Says Reporter Should Face ‘Consequences’ For Revealing His Struggles In Interview

During an interview on the Fast Politics Podcast on Thursday, Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman’s wife, Gisele Fetterman, said MSNBC News reporter Dasha Burns should face “consequences” for revealing that Fetterman required a computer during their recent interview due to “lingering auditory processing issues” resulting from his stroke in May.

Burns had told MSNBC’s Katy Tur that “Fetterman has always been an unconventional candidate, but this is a particularly unconventional interview.” She explained that Fetterman required closed captioning so he could better understand and respond to her questions, but he was more capable of responding after reading the questions.

She added that it was a “very different” interview than a previous one they had in May before Fetterman’s stroke.

“He still has lingering auditory processing issues as a result of the stroke, which means he has a hard time understanding what he’s hearing. Now once he reads the question, he’s able to understand,” she explained.

Burns said that overall Fetterman still struggled to understand conversations.

“It did seem that he had a hard time understanding our conversations,” she said.

In response to Burns discussing her interview with Fetterman, Gisele Fetterman called for Burns to face “consequences” and said she still hasn’t “heard an apology.”

“I don’t like saying rage because I think that’s a really unhealthy feeling and when you feel those things it only harms yourself,” she said. “But what a disservice that she did to not only my husband but to anyone facing a disability and working through it, and I don’t know how there were not consequences. I mean, there are consequences for folks in these positions who are any of the isms. I mean, she was ableist. That’s what she was in her interview.”

“It was appalling to the entire disability community and I think to journalism,” she continued. “So I was shocked. I’m still really upset about it. And I think the positive is it’s brought a lot of conversations around accommodations, around rights, around ableism. I mean, ableism was trending on Twitter. It just shows there’s so much work to do, but these networks have to take accountability, right? Like, where is your training?”

“It was appalling to see,” she added. “And you see that in schools, you see that in young children. You don’t expect to see it at this level. And I haven’t heard an apology. It hasn’t come. I’m hopeful that they will reflect and see that they did an incredible disservice to all Americans.”